Log - Race Night Hobie 16 - June 18, 2015

So following up last week's not-a-race-night, I decided to take H16 number 84 out again.  I was fortunate enough to sail with Ken E who has a lot more experience in these things than I, and a lot more experience in general tactical situations.

Light winds (<5 knots) with the occasional gust of up to 8-10 and no waves.  Racing was Tony and Rob (H16 01), Ken S (Laser) and Steve/Carla (Tasar) with Mario running RC in a longer-than-normal course.

Set up
Last week, I had the jib tack attached to the bottom hole of the stay adjuster.  The idea was to have the jib as far away from the mast as possible to reduce the chance of the batons getting caught on the wire halyard.  Now that I found the clip I figured I could get the jib closer to the mast, and this might help some of my jib trimming issues.  The jib got caught on the mast a couple of times during tacks, but letting the jib out when bringing it across mitigated that, and it would probably not be an issue in higher winds -- it's just a matter of paying attention.  Airflow did seem better across jib.

Set up notes for next time -- second bottom hole seems right for light winds.  Will have to look up whether to go "up" or "down" for heavier air.

As per last week's notes, we were better at moving the jib blocks along the tracks, which definitely made a difference.

Race 1:

I was skippering with Ken E on crew.  Good start, just behind and to port of the monohulls.  The start was in a gust, so even though Ken S could point better than us, we were able to cross him before we had to keep clear.  S&C just took off, and the Tasar was going as fast as we were (and pointing better!)  The cat's lack of pointing ability combined with a couple of unlucky headers and generally slowing wind speed meant we rounded in third, behind the monohulls but ahead of Tony.

We elected to point higher than normal on the reaching leg, trying to keep speed up.  This also allowed us to defend against Tony and Rob.  As we approached the leeward mark, we elected to head up and continue on port rather than tack.  We accidentally discovered a patch of really good air to the right of the course.  Contrary to what the landscape would suggest, this patch of air was both fast and was a bit of a lift.  We were able to pull farther ahead of Tony/Rob, and eventually came in 3rd.

Race 2:
Ken E skippered this one.  Steve and Carla took off for a sail, so this one was a three boat race.  Start was decent, although Ken S won it.  Pointing issues again took their tole in the low winds, and no one could touch Ken S. The reaching leg worked out a bit different this time.  In even lower winds, we again pointed high to keep boat speed up.  Tony pointed right at the mark, and the boats were exactly in line when we passed the gybe mark.  I guess in these conditions, we were going about the same speed regardless of point of sail, so the shorter distance paid off for Tony.

The second reach was a good tactical move by Ken E.  We were initially in Tony's wind shadow.  As Tony pulled ahead, Ken headed up, and covered Tony.  He then headed down and defended.  We rounded leeward ahead of Tony, and again went to our "good air here" spot.  A shortened course meant we finished at the windward mark, well ahead of Tony.
 
Lessons learned:
- The cat has a big sail, and can cover like anyone's business -- use it, especially in light air.
- In extremely light airs, if boat speed does not change with point then just point it at the mark

Log - Race night in Hobie 16 - Aug 10, 2015

Very light winds.  Took 6-year-old (this week...) Hannah on Hobie 16 number 84.  Race cancelled due to low winds, but went out anyway.  Tony and Ron were out in Hobie 16 number 01 while Carla took a Laser.

As soon as we left shore (and RC went home) the wind picked up nicely.  Hannah on jib, learning how the cleats and continuous line worked.  While on the water, had my typical H16 tacking issue -- jib batons getting caught on the jib halyard.  I noticed there was a clip on the port side of the mast, a few feet under the forestay attachment.  It looks like it's meant to hold the halyards (jib and main) back from the front of the mast.  I went into irons, gave the jib halyards a good pull and was able to clip it in place.  AWESOME!  No more issue tacking this thing.

Wind continued to increase.  Spent most of the evening on beam reaching going back and forth to Quebec and back a few times.  Hulls were humming and I was able to get out on the wire (we weren't flying a hull, but were still blasting along.  The main looked good all night long, but the jib always seemed under trimmed.  Will try playing with the position of the jib cars next time out to improve this.

A couple of times one of the rudders popped up, leading to massive weather helm.  Apparently, some maintenance on the rudder assembly can mitigate this, especially adjusting spring tension.  It seems involved though .  May do this on upcoming duty day.

Lessons Learned
- clip halyards to prevent batons getting stuck
- see what we can do to improve jib trim
- perform maintenance on rudder assembly(?)

Log - Get out on the Water - Jun 20, 2015

The "get out on the water" day was organized by Ontario Sailing and we partnered with the Canoe Club next door to offer sessions of sailing and paddling.  Many thanks to Giulio for organizing our part of it!

Quite a few KSC sailors were out helping, but I was one of the few (along with Ken S and Frank) who were taking the cats out.  I grabbed a Hobie 16 (with Mike R's old sails) in light conditions.

Despite a bit of sunburn, the day was tons of fun -- I forgot how cool it is to sail one of those Hobies.  After the Kingston Masters', I'll probably be taking one of these suckers out more.  I've never single-handed one for a significant amount of time, so maybe that's a goal for this year.

Lessons learned: teenage girls talk shit about their parents